Chapter seven hundred and forty-four the status quo of the German army
Since all the granaries have been inspected, Yang Mingzhi is not worried about leaks at all. The khaki sacks are loaded with flour and stacked like bricks. The tops of each granary are reinforced with wooden boards, and the gaps are filled with rags.
Such a simple means barely blocked the rain. Fortunately, there is not much precipitation in Belarus, so there is no need to worry at this time.
If there is anything that worries Yang Mingzhi, it is that the rain has delayed the fertilizer plant.
On April 4th, a group of people from the Chemical Laboratory of Catfish Village came to do a final inspection of the fertilizer plant equipment with Ivanov. The rain made the roads extremely muddy, and there were even knee-deep mud ponds in some areas. Such road conditions were not suitable.
Travel far!
If the mud made walking difficult for the Soviets, it was the same for the Germans.
The rain came quietly and the temperature dropped sharply. The merciless raindrops beat on the positions in charge of the German 707th Division, and the cold wind whizzed, giving every officer and soldier a sense of desolation.
It’s obviously already spring, but spring comes so late in Belarus!
The weather was very bad, and the division commander Herzmann was in a bad mood. The battle ended on April 1, and his coordinated operation with the 722nd Division ended in failure.
Facts have once again proved that the Soviet 284th Division hidden in the hinterland of the southern swamps is really powerful in combat effectiveness. But its own troops? Those soldiers of the Eastern Battalion have poor combat effectiveness and even turned against each other at critical moments.
Thousands of people cooperated with the German army's actions. At best, they supported the stage. When the actual battle came, they were not even considered cannon fodder.
Extremely depressed, he stood at the command post in a low mood, looking at the scenery outside through the observation hole.
The location he was in was not a battlefield, but the gray forest just one kilometer away still worried him. Upset, he couldn't help but smoke a cigarette to calm down, and asked the chief of staff: "Rostad, do you think the enemy will be here?"
Attack suddenly at this time! Now is our weakest moment..."
"This shouldn't happen. We have sentries posted in the forest. Besides, even if it rains, our soldiers still stick to their posts."
"Very good. Did you do what I said?"
"It's all done. Although we don't have many mines, given the current situation, we must lay them. Yesterday, all of our army's infantry mines were buried in front of the position."
Hearing this, Hertzman couldn't help but sigh: "If I had known this, why would I have ordered the troops to continue the pursuit! Why would I have asked the 722nd Division to coordinate operations! I might as well have sold the landmines and pulled up the barbed wire early.
, this way Lotharheim’s regiment will not collapse.”
The chief of staff walked up helplessly, patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: "It has happened. We can only try to recover the losses as much as possible. Today is already the 4th. If the enemy continues to attack us, they will not delay it until now."
.Not to mention that the weather is just as bad for them. I don’t believe that the Soviets can walk like flying in the mud?!"
These words made Herzmann feel a little relieved. The position he was in was under the responsibility of his subordinate Bach. Because of the death of Lotharheim and the huge losses of the regiment, Bach was responsible for part of the vacated defense area.
This main group also suffered heavy losses in the battle a few days ago, so the pressure on defense will be even greater.
Hertzman dusted off the cigarette ashes, looked ahead with dull eyes, and sighed meaningfully: "Fortunately among the misfortunes, the commander only criticized us severely. We did suffer a lot in this battle. If such a failure were simply
It is unfair to conclude that our army was at a disadvantage in combat. The military commander must have considered this aspect and did not take it for granted that it was our command's responsibility, so he did not remove me from my post."
"This matter did not even lead to the Gestapo in the battlefield being charged! After all, we encountered both an air attack and an attack by enemy infantry. It was a matter of course for us to defend and counterattack," said the chief of staff.
"Well, if they send someone to arrest me, I will admit it. Maybe 707 is not a good number at all. As the new division commander, I have suffered the same failures as my predecessor! I thought that in cooperation with the 722nd Division, an army of more than 3,000 people
Is it still difficult to annihilate hundreds of people? Now the statistical report has come out. Excluding the people from the Dongfang Battalion, our division alone suffered 1,000 casualties. What is more serious than the casualties is the psychological blow. I can clearly confirm that
, our soldiers are already very afraid of the forest to the south!"
Fear spread among the soldiers, and because they were still facing military pressure, the soldiers had to wear raincoats and stick to the muddy trenches. They always paid attention to keeping themselves warm, and they also had to wipe their guns frequently to keep them clean.
For a veteran like Herzman who had participated in World War I, the situation seemed to be back to France on the Western Front twenty-five years ago. There were not as many forests as in Belarus, but the rain was exactly the same. Soldiers like dung beetles clung to the muddy trenches, even though
This is very uncomfortable and must be maintained, because no one can be sure that the enemy did not appear suddenly.
Because the counterattack of the two division commanders, which was ambitious to wipe out a Soviet army of hundreds of people, suffered a serious failure, the group commander Wagner was distraught. After receiving the report from the two division commanders, they only insulted each other. This situation also
Notified John Kube, but his reply was very subtle.
Perhaps because winter has passed, guerrilla activities have become rampant in various parts of Belarus. The destruction of transportation lines throughout Belarus has increased explosively. From the beginning, they dug up railways and blew up bridges, and eventually developed into direct attacks on locomotives, attacking outposts and killing people.
Kill everyone.
The Soviet troops in the swamps of southern Belarus are like tigers sharpening their claws waiting for an opportunity to attack, and "mosquitoes flying all over the house" will quickly drive people crazy.
Furthermore, the 707th Division really shouldn’t be punished now. Even if the military asked Herzmann to go to court-martial as required, Kube suppressed it. Now is the critical moment. The 707th Division has just taken a break and rested again? This is really unbelievable! For
To ensure the stability of the troops, the deployment of troops in southern Belarus should not be changed easily.
Kubei knew that the Soviet Air Force airdropped supplies to that unit, and this group of people never liked to make small moves. Once the war started, they could quickly rise to the level of an infantry division. The poor environment of the swamp was daunting, and John Kubei knew that,
If you want to solve the problem once and for all, you should gather a large army to overcome the huge obstacles in the swamp and forcefully enter and sweep it.
However, to carry out encirclement and suppression, it is obviously unrealistic to send only one or two divisions. The results of the war that ended in February were terrifying!
Therefore, the order he gave to Wagner was nothing special. In addition to ordering him to continue to guard and defend, he ordered the 847th Division and the 805th Division to move to the front line of the Mozyri-Gomel Highway. The mission of these two divisions was not to participate in the defense of the 707th Division.
The responsible defense line was to encircle the railway extending from Mozyr to Bryansk and immediately eliminate the sporadic guerrillas engaged in sabotage activities here.
In this way, Herzmann did not receive any substantial punishment, and his troops suffered considerable casualties. Fortunately, he still had seven to eight thousand men, so it was not a problem to defend with these people alone.
Now he is completely dismissive of Dongfang Battalion. The soldiers of Dongfang Battalion who participated in the operation have been controlled, all weapons have been confiscated, and everyone is under investigation. Because Hertzman believes that there may be Soviet spies here, otherwise they
He won't suddenly change sides.
This kind of situation was finally reported to Kube's ears, and the result did not surprise him.
Because most of the Eastern volunteers recruited from prisoners of war served the German army out of survival. Are these people armed against Stalin from the bottom of their hearts? This is so funny! But there are still many residents of the former Soviet Union who are willing to serve the German army.
Service, Kube knew, and the men's brutal performance in executing captured guerrillas confirmed their loyalty.
As for the Dongfang Battalion soldiers who defected? They will all be treated as guerrillas and bandits.
…
On the afternoon of April 4th, Herzmann, wearing a raincoat, inspected the positions of the former Lotharheim Regiment. The battlefield was briefly cleared, but the huge craters and charred campsite were still visible. Lawrence, who was originally the battalion commander, was injured due to the disaster.
As a result, he was promoted. All the senior officers either escaped without permission or were killed in battle, but he was the only one who led his remaining soldiers to regain the position immediately after the bombardment.
This bravery gave him the authority to serve as acting regimental commander, and Hertzman also gave him an important task: supervising the execution of all East Battalion soldiers who were caught rebelling.rw